Adams again vying for Hampton sheriff post

He plans to face off against Sheriff B.J. Roberts, though Roberts hasn't said he's running

HAMPTON — A former high-ranking official in the Hampton Sheriff's Office who challenged longtime Sheriff B.J. Roberts four years ago announced this week that he will attempt to do so again.

James E. "Jim" Adams Jr., a former lieutenant colonel under Roberts, said he plans to again challenge his former boss on the November ballot. Adams has filed his intent to run with the Hampton voter registrar's office and is now forming his campaign.

"I'm going to see what I can do to turn the department around," said Adams, who worked for the Sheriff's Office for 30 years before retiring in 2009.

Roberts, however, is an entrenched opponent, having been Hampton's sheriff for 21 years. First elected in a special election in 1992, the Democrat has won five straight regular elections — in 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2009.

In the faceoff four years ago, Roberts won with 16,547, or 53.4 percent of the vote. Adams came in second, with 10,606 votes, or 34.2 percent. The third candidate — Hampton police officer Curtis C. Cooper — garnered 3,845 votes, or 12 percent.

Roberts, 62, was vague in a brief email on Wednesday on whether he's running for another term. "I will notify you regarding my candidacy for Sheriff at a later date," he said.

Cooper said he is not planning another run, though that could change, he said, if Roberts doesn't seek another term.

For his part, Adams is promising to improve deputy morale, asserting the Sheriff's Office is struggling to keep deputies. He questioned Roberts' leadership style, saying he doesn't apply "fair and consistent principles" in leading his staff. "People are afraid to do their jobs," Adams said.

Another reason for the low morale, Adams asserted, is that Roberts has done away with lots of the extra duty assignments — overtime work for private employers — available in the past. Adams also contends Roberts should allow deputies to act as law enforcement officers when they see something arise when they're off duty or out of the office.

Adams, who has been working lately as a part-time deputy in Newport News, said he agrees in large part with Newport News Sheriff Gabe Morgan, who has expanded his deputies' law enforcement role beyond jail and court security and serving paperwork.

Adams also contents Roberts has become a "mere figurehead," and hardly ever shows up in the jail or in the courts to make the rounds. "I don't think he's present and visible," he said.

He also criticized his former boss for an escape from the City Jail in September, in which an inmate being held on a bank robbery charge jumped over the wall of the jail's recreational yard. The man was caught a couple days later.

Adams asserts that Sheriff's Office procedures broke down. He surmises that head counts weren't properly done and that the guard in the watchtower either wasn't there or wasn't paying attention. At the very least, Adams said, Roberts owes the public an explanation.

The lawsuit was filed by several former deputies and employees who supported Adams and were fired after the election. They claim the firings were payback and that their constitutional rights were violated by the terminations.

A federal judge in Norfolk sided with Roberts that the firings were legal, but the fired workers have appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, with a ruling pending. One aspect of the case — whether "liking" someone's Facebook page is a protected form of free speech — has gotten national attention.

Roberts did not respond to a request to address Adams' assertions about his leadership.